Gran Meliá Nacional — Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Closed for over a decade, Oscar Niemeyer’s 1972 Hotel Nacional in Rio de Janeiro has reopened as the 400-room Gran Meliá Nacional.
The restoration of the imposing tubular building in the city’s São Conrado quarter has preserved key elements of the original design – including the lobby, staircases, sinuous ramps and Carybé’s 45m-long concrete installation, as well as Roberto Burle Marx’s landscaping – while adding the requisite bells and whistles of a millennial hotel such as Trussardi bedding.
Interior designer Debora Aguiar’s mood-board takes its cues from the imposing Pedro Corrêa de Araújo chandelier in the lobby, though for sheer spectacle it’s all about the wraparound view of Rio, São Conrado bay, Ipanema and Copacabana from the hotel’s 34th floor helipad.
There are enough diversions here to keep guests hedonistically house-bound: the Clarins spa takes up an entire floor, while the pool concierge conducts tipsy caipirinha workshops.
INFORMATION
ADDRESS
Av Niemeyer 769
São Conrado
Rio de Janeiro
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox.
Daven Wu is the Singapore Editor at Wallpaper*. A former corporate lawyer, he has been covering Singapore and the neighbouring South-East Asian region since 1999, writing extensively about architecture, design, and travel for both the magazine and website. He is also the City Editor for the Phaidon Wallpaper* City Guide to Singapore.
-
Rediscover a classic midcentury hotel in Sydney
Fender Katsalidis leads a major renovation of the landmark Sofitel Sydney Wentworth hotel, pairing 1960s modernism with an elevated, Australian-minded reset
-
Haute Couture Week A/W 2025: what to expect
Five moments to look out for at Haute Couture Week A/W 2025 in Paris (starting Monday 7 July), from Glenn Martens’ debut for Maison Margiela to Demna’s Balenciaga swansong. Plus, ‘new beginnings’ from JW Anderson
-
Inside Frank Lloyd Wright’s Laurent House – a project built with accessibility at its heart
The dwelling, which you can visit in Illinois, is a classic example of Wright’s Usonian architecture, and was also built for a client with a disability long before accessibility was widely considered
-
Tour the best contemporary tea houses around the world
Celebrate the world’s most unique tea houses, from Melbourne to Stockholm, with a new book by Wallpaper’s Léa Teuscher
-
Brazilian island hotel Auka Boipeba offers a unique approach to the alfresco experience
Designed by architecture studio FGMF, Auka Boipeba describes itself as an inn, though it’s certainly unlike any inn we’ve ever been to
-
Tune into the rhythm of São Paulo at the Arthur Casas-designed Pulso Hotel
Housed within a dramatic tower designed by Brazilian architect Arthur Casas, Pulso Hotel is where art, gastronomy and luxury hospitality revel
-
Soho House’s beloved home-from-home concept lands in fun-loving, hard-working São Paulo
Soho House São Paulo is the brand's first foothold in South America, occupying a historic corner of the Brazil mega-metropolis
-
Villa One at the One & Only Palmilla — Los Cabos, Mexico
-
Martim — Wroclaw, Poland
-
Tattersalls Hotel — Armidale, Australia
-
KLoé Hotel — Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia